All female foot patrol units have been done by the marines already. The Female Contact Teams in Afghanistan. Made up of entirely lady lethernecks. They may have had the mission of contacting and working with local women but they effectively performed as infantry. I am nearly 100% certain that was on purpose.
I am guessing it is because Barkey is the face for Sec Forces here.
edited 24th May '12 7:29:26 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?Yeah, but I've never given paperwork to a male security forces airman for leaving their plates in their room and not in their armor while on duty because they are "too heavy".
I've given three female airmen paperwork for that shit. So bear with me, there's a reason I'm pissed about the whole concept. The first thing I would do when I got out to post is check to make sure every single person on my team had every single plate in their vests. After the first time, it became my "thing". It is asinine that I even had to worry about the possibility of that happening. Everyone had to pony up and let me feel their SAPI plates. Also, half the female airmen I went to SF school with are no longer with the Air Force, they all got pregnant and got out.
^
I'm a big supporter of the FCT experiment, I think it's a good idea. I think all-female units are the best first step to transition, and then from there after giving it a few years and having some all female combat units that function at the same standards as men physically, combining a battalion size force of men and women in combat arms. Then, taking some of the star performers of female combat arms troops and doing an all female special forces team, and then integrating that if it works out fairly quickly.
All in all though, that'd still be like a 16 year process if everything worked out great.
edited 24th May '12 7:48:44 PM by Barkey
I've seen that before. It seems like it's been working out great.
I'm thinking in a larger capacity though. I dont want to make a racial analogy, but the best comparison I can think is is the all-black units from WW 2, like the Tuskegee airmen. Pilots, communications, security, ground crews, ect. were all black. This would be the same idea, for different reasons, and some what smaller scale. There wouldn't be entire woman bases, but parts of a base would be just the woman unit. I think it would resolve some of the issues about it. I'm not sure how accepting people would be of it though. PR would probably screw it over.
Personally I wish we could just let everyone inter-mingle, but there seems to be too many issues cropping up.
edited 24th May '12 7:51:02 PM by Joesolo
I'm baaaaaaackOBGYN issues are only as big as you make them. All a girl needs is an annual physical and one shot every three months. I am completely in agreement with Barkey they should agree to this or get the hell out.
This is where same standards also come in handy, it weeds out the losers. Those who actually had the balls to survive to meet that point have also gone through the mental and emotional hurdles needed to rise to the standard, are less likely to sabatoge themselves later.
It'll also save money in training because fewer girls will be willing to make such sacrifices, so less applicants. I never felt any Emergency Service needed to be PC, civilian or military.
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - AszurHistorically, bicycle corps were common before widespread motorization. Bikes were used as cargo vehicles on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, mainly because they were extremely difficult to detect from the air, and they offer great opportunities for strategic mobility for a light infantry group that for some reason can't ride on trucks, just as long as they dismount before entering combat (see the Japanese invasion of Malaya, for instance).
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
Well, the VC and NVA still used thousands of them along the Ho Chi Minh trail to ferry just about everything they needed to fight.
And I would rather go cross country on a modern mountain bike rather than walking, as long as it wasn't in a high-threat environment.
edit - like these, for instance,
http://www.militarybikes.com/military.html
edited 25th May '12 6:00:53 AM by TamH70
No, because ballistic plates are already more stab protection than you need. I've posted the results of my tomahawk test a few times on this forum - basically, the tip of the skull-piercing spike broke off a little when I hit the plate with it. Nothing except high-caliber sniper and heavy machine gun rounds will go through those ceramic plates.
"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.
Sew on some pockets or use lots of glue.
As for weights of the ceramic plates, this may be of some use.
http://www.bulletproofme.com/Body_Armor_Accessories_Rifle_Protection.shtml
edited 25th May '12 6:44:31 AM by TamH70
ESAPI plates actually aren't that light. I think they're about three-to-five pounds each. It sounds like nothing, but when you have four of them on you that's close to twenty pounds. If you're wearing a plate carrier instead of one of the heavier full-coverage vests, you don't really feel it too much though.
"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.

Heres an Idea- All female units. Pregnancy thing would at least be a little(not by much, I have to admit) harder to pull off, and you could consolidate OBGYN stuff. Plus the locker rooms and stuff would still just be 1 room.
edited 24th May '12 6:44:09 PM by Joesolo
I'm baaaaaaack